You are here

COLUMN: Don't waste your right to vote!

Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared on Frank Phillips College’s student led news site, The Plainsmen Post. Find more student opinions and news at www.PlainsmenPost.com and like them on Facebook.

We all know about the primary today. We all know who the candidates are, and we all know who we would vote for. If we were to vote, that is. A vast majority of us aren’t even going to bother.

Here in the Texas panhandle it might seem trivial, going to vote. We all know what the outcome will be. Thing is, America wasn’t founded for people with this kind of complacent attitude.

America is a nation of world-movers, of doers, of passionate thinkers and innovators. Elections are our chance to let our government – a government by the people, for the people – know what we want and what we expect. Voting is the hammer with which we forge our future, and most of us aren’t even going to bother.

So what keeps us at home? Is your couch really that comfortable? Is that television show really that good? Good enough to forfeit one of the most important rights, responsibilities, that an American enjoys?

That’s what happens when we forego voting. We allow others to rule us. If we don’t take part in the process, we leave it to other people to make our decisions for us.

We should feel pride when we vote, not inconvenience. Pride that we get to carve the face of this country, this world, with our own hands. We are shaping history. Every one of us, we are part of something greater than ourselves, but today, most of us aren’t even going to bother.

Don’t be part of that majority. Take responsibility for yourself and send them a message. Tell them that your values are important to you and you won’t be led like so many sheep. Tell them what your vision is for your country; tell them that what happens to you is important to you.

You’re not livestock; you’re the farmer.

You’re not a tool in a factory; you’re the foreman.

You’re the boss.

As an American you are granted the right to voice your demands; don’t throw that away. Don’t let other people tell you how your world is going to look without trying to shape it yourself. Don’t see it as a bother. See it as a privilege, a duty, an honor.

Make the decision. What will you be?

Polls opened at 7:00 a.m. and will remain open until 7:00 p.m. Sample ballots can be found on pages six and seven of this newspaper.